After days of controversy surrounding the issue, the U.S. House has approved a bill that would send more than $50 billion in aid to states affected by last fall's Superstorm Sandy.

The bill passed 241-180.

Tuesday evening's vote came two weeks after the House approved a smaller, $9.7 billion package paying for flood insurance claims. It also comes following a controversy that arose because the House leadership did not put a Sandy aid package to vote in the final day of the last Congress. That delay came amid fiscal cliff bickering and consternation over dwindling federal funds.

[Updated at 5:38 p.m. ET] A part-time student at a business and arts college in St. Louis shot and wounded a school employee Tuesday before wounding himself at the institute, St. Louis police said.

The suspect, who apparently shot himself, and the Stevens Institute of Business and Arts employee were taken to a hospital, where they were in surgery Tuesday afternoon, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson said.

Police officers responding to a 911 call found the employee, identified only as a man in his late 40s, wounded in the school in downtown St. Louis. Officers then found the wounded suspect in a stairwell, as well as a handgun that investigators believe was used in the shooting, Dotson said.

Other students, faculty and staff members "headed for the doors" after the shooting and were taken to "an offsite location" to be interviewed by investigators, Dotson said.

[Initial post, 3:59 p.m. ET] Two men have been taken to a hospital in critical condition after a shooting at a St. Louis business college Tuesday, St. Louis fire Capt. Dan Sutter said.

[Initial post, 5:09 p.m. ET] New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed the nation's first new gun-control bill since last month's massacre at a Connecticut school.

â€śI am proud to be a New Yorker because New York is doing something, because we are fighting back (against gun violence),â€ť Cuomo told reporters shortly before signing the bill.

The law, among other things, requires background checks for would-be purchasers on all private sales, fortifies the state's existing assault weapons ban, limits the number of bullets in magazines, and strengthen rules that keep the mentally ill from owning firearms. Read more about the bill here. Also, New York's move comes a day before U.S. President Barack Obama is to announce his own gun-control proposals for the country.

[Initial post, 4:27 p.m. ET] Lawmakers in New York have passed the country's first new gun-control bill since last month's massacre at a Connecticut school.

New York's Democratic-controlled Assembly approved a new set of gun regulations Tuesday intended to fortify the state's assault weapons ban.

The measure was approved by the GOP-controlled Senate on Monday and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo soon.

The bill, intended to fortify New York's assault weapons ban, limit the number of bullets in ammunition magazines and strengthen laws that keep the mentally ill from firearms, is expected to be taken up by the state's Democratic-controlled Assembly early Tuesday afternoon. The GOP-controlled state Senate approved the measure in a 43-18 vote Monday night.

The number of U.S. service members who committed suicide last year might be a record.

Despite extensive support and counseling programs, as many as 349 U.S. service members committed suicide last year, which would be the highest number since the Department of Defense began keeping detailed statistics in 2001.

According to the Pentagon, 239 military deaths in 2012 have been confirmed as suicides and another 110 are being investigated as probable suicides. The number of suicides in 2011 reached 301.

[Updated at 1:29 p.m. ET] Islamist rebels would have taken Mali's capital had France's military not intervened in the African nation in the last few days, French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday.

"If we had not taken up our responsibility and if on Friday morning we had not acted with this intervention, where would Mali be today?" he asked.

The French defense minister told CNN that up to 800 troops are in Mali to help Malian forces in an offensive against Islamist militants, and that up to 1,700 total French forces - including the 800 in Mali - are involved in a variety of capacities, such as offering logistical support from various French military bases across Africa.

Hollande, speaking on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, said France intends to "make way as quickly as possible" for an African force.

It didn't take long for U.S. President Barack Obama to decide how he wants to try to reduce gun violence.

Obama (pictured) and Vice President Joe Biden will announce Obama's plan for reducing gun violence on Wednesday, the White House said Tuesday afternoon. Biden had given recommendations to Obama after leading a task force on the issue last week.

Obama's proposal will be comprehensive, and will include legislative options for banning assault weapons as well as steps to address high-capacity magazines and federal background checks, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama and Biden will be joined by children from around the country who wrote letters to the president, Carney said.

A member of the board of Livestrong, the cancer foundation founded by Lance Armstrong, said Tuesday he felt betrayed by the doping controversy that has engulfed the cycling star but hopeful that Armstrong can emerge from it and do more good for cancer sufferers.

"It's been devastating,"Â Livestrong board member Mark McKinnon said on CNN's "Early Start."

McKinnon said an admission would be a good starting point for Armstrong to continue helping the foundation.

â€śI think heâ€™s got a lot of apologies, I think heâ€™s got to crawl over a lot of broken glass â€¦ but the one thing they canâ€™t take away from him is his cancer survivorship," McKinnon said.

"That story gives great hope to millions of people," said McKinnon. "Thereâ€™s a lot of good work he can continue to do there if heâ€™s willing to sacrifice and make clear that heâ€™s sacrificing for the cause, that heâ€™s willing to serve a cause greater than himself."

Media reports began swirling immediately after Lance Armstrongâ€™s interview Monday with Oprah Winfrey that he admitted for the first time to using banned substances.

Those details came despite an agreement between Armstrongâ€™s camp and Winfrey that they would not leak any details of the interview, she told CBS on Tuesday.

But it didnâ€™t last for long.

"By the time I left Austin [Texas] and landed in Chicago, you all had already confirmed it," Winfrey told CBS, seemingly referring to the media. "So I'm sitting here now because it's already been confirmed.â€ť

While Winfrey characterized the nature of the interview, she was not specific in the words Armstrong used or what specific admission he made.

Winfrey said Armstrong "did not come clean in the manner that I expected."

She said he "was ready" and "met the moment."

"We were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers," Winfrey said.

The interview lasted two and a half hours and will air across two nights on her network, OWN, and will be streamed on her website, Oprah.com, she told CBS. The first part will air Thursday from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ET.

President Obama will be sworn in for a second term in office on Monday, January 21.Â Watch CNN.com Live for all your inauguration coverage.

Today's programming highlights...

10:00 am ET - House lawmakers read Constitution - Two years ago, House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle came together to read the U.S. Constitution aloud for the first time in the House chamber.Â Today, lawmakers will do so again.

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